And if you missed what kicked this off, here's the two of us pontificating on social media. Yes, we're serious about being not serious some times. And all the props go to Joe Holt for shooting and editing. He truly is the man.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

You know about Podiobooks.com, right? Pushing around 80,000 episodes of close to 400 serialized free audiobooks out to thousands of listeners every single day. Some listeners opt to make a donation to a book, and the author gets 75% of that. Yeah, I'm a hell of a guy.

I use PayPal in a very non-automated system to handle both the collection of donations from donors and distribution of funds to authors/producers. I've got a pretty good system going, but there's one spot I constantly fall down on -- thanking those who have donated.

I've resigned myself to the fact that I simply can't thank each of these people one at a time. It takes me the better part of 2 days to do it when they pile up, and I simply don't have the bandwidth to do it daily. It's hundreds of people that donate per quarter, but thanking them individually takes time.

And I really don't like the thought of an auto "thanks" to be sent out as soon as the donation is received. Yes, I could set up PayPal or something else to do this. But I don't want to. What I'd rather do is wait -- maybe a month -- and then send out a big "thanks" email to everyone who donated during that time. I'd include some quick stats on growth, new books coming... that sort of thing. Something of more value than just a "thanks", but something that doesn't have to be customized for each donor.

And that's why I'm turning to you. I need personal recommendations on good, solid and inexpensive contact management services. I'm perfectly capable of searching Google on my own and doing research on my own, so spare me the links to LMGTFY. I want to hear from those of you who know of a system that will accommodate my needs.

Here's the weekly/monthly/quarterly workflow as I see it:

Export week/month/quarter of donations from PayPal

Import that list -- just names and email addresses, probably -- into CMS

Write up a nifty little letter of thanks and tells the list a bit about what happened to PB.com. Would like this to be pretty-fiable.

Send.

That's it. Of course, I know I'm building up a list -- possibly a big list, though we have many repeat donors -- of donors. I may opt to, though I never yet have, send them important updates from time to time. Things like the new site launch, and when we start selling versions of some of our books, too. Those will be one-off and certainly few and far between.

I have the names and email addresses of everyone who has donated in the past, so I'd like to start with a big import of those (no sending of anything), then import a list of donors since October 2009 that have yet to be thanked... and thank them.

So... what do you think? More importantly, what do you use? Spread this around if you know someone who uses email/contact management software and may be of assistance.

About Me

In January of 2015,my wife and I embarked on the journey of a lifetime. We sold all of our possessions, kissed our son, family, and friends goodbye, and took off for parts unknown. Now, we're living the digital nomad lifestyle as we travel the world!

MORE INFO ABOUT ME:

I embraced the web when it was young, dragging a multi-billion dollar company along kicking and screaming all the way.

I'm among the first dozens of podcasters, and now there are millions.

I'm an early adopter and vocal advocate of building businesses around the concept of "free".

I'm the author of 2.5 books in the "for Dummies" series and continue to indie publish non-fiction books.

Yes, I really did survive (and thrive) on a month-long regiment of craft beer and sausage as my only calorie source.

I've founded five different startups. Three in the publishing space, one in finance [shudder], and one in media.

If you'd like to have me speak at your conference or event; great! I have experience with all sorts of public speaking, from keynotes to workshops.